Modern consumer-operated vending machines are increasingly being controlled with electronic control panels for operating electromechanical dispensing mechanisms. In recent years, vending machines have been constructed for an increasing variety of products, such as frozen foods, cold drinks, coffee, prepared food, packaged candy and snack foods, and others, many of which require special product handling. The resulting variety of specialized handling of the product, such as vertical movement, horizontal movement, refrigeration, component mixing, heating, and similar handling functions must be controlled within the vending machine.
Typically, the vending machines have been constructed, each specifically for a particular type of product or a particular vending operation, whether it be maintaining frozen products such as ice cream, dispensing refrigerated products, such as cold drinks, sandwiches, fruit, or other perishable foods, or mixing, heating or cooling liquid products, such as soups, coffee or carbonated drinks. In many cases, the basic functions and control signal connections can be set during manufacture, such as preset refrigeration temperatures, preset vending actuation sequences, preset heating temperatures, preset mixing sequences, and the like. But, this is not always the case as product requirements or requirements due to a machine's operating environment sometimes require adjustments. Also, almost without exception, the product or its cost changes periodically. The price at which a product is to be vended must be correspondingly changed by the owner of the vending machine or the concessionaire, depending on the price change or product change. Typically, vending machines have been constructed with a hinged and locked door through which the interior of the cabinet can be accessed for both product filling or replacement, and also for access to the internal control by which price changes could be effected. Hingeable doors providing adequate access both for filling the machine and also for accessing the control mechanism may require side clearance which can be at a premium in compact vending areas or in areas where a large number of vending machines are provided. Because of the individual nature of construction for vending machines for various products, the organization, arrangement, and operation of each vending machine is different for each machine. Machine differences may require additional training and may produce inefficiency for concessionaires who may have more than one type of product and corresponding individualized vending machines for the separate product types. Also, the design and manufacturing costs of separate vending machines for each separate product type can be substantial.